There have long been bathroom fixtures in the form of supporting panels that extend horizontally from a bathroom wall having apertures therein for retaining toothbrushes and/or rinse containers between uses. The lower ends of toothbrush handles are inserted into their respective toothbrush holes until the bristles abut the supporting panel's upper surface, such that the brush hangs from the panel and air dries.
A problem with most conventional support panel toothbrush holders has been that they make no provision for retaining a toothpaste tube and other dentifrice related items, i.e. rinse container, together with at least one toothbrush. An additional problem with such supporting panels is that they are often permanently attached to a bathroom wall, hence, not portable.
In response, various combination toothbrush and toothpaste holders have been proposed, however, none of known prior art provides a combination holder able to simultaneously support a toothbrush, toothpaste and rinse container holder that is easily cleaned and requires no additional parts, such as a hinge or the like.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,497 to Stacy discloses a combined toothpaste holder and vented toothbrush container comprising a semi-cylindrical body, a flared base member, a hingedly engaged top and an insert which creates nested channels within the body. An inner channel includes a downward depending flange and engages a toothpaste tube while an outer channel is created within which toothbrush handles depend, the heads being held by the insert and the handles extending into opening. Unlike the instant invention, this combined toothpaste holder and vented toothbrush container is not designed to support and/or house a rinse container therein. Moreover, the design does not lend itself to easy cleaning as it comprises at least four different members that need to be disassembled to ensure through cleaning.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,035 to Deconinck discloses a device for holding a mouth-rinsing glass, toothbrushes and a tube of dentifrice comprising a molded synthetic resin body provided with two upwardly open mutually adjacent receptacles, one of which is dimensioned to receive a glass or cup while the other requires a tubular insert be provided with at least two laterally extending ribs to subdivide the second receptacle into a plurality of compartments, each of which can receive the handle of a toothbrush. A tube of dentifrice can be inserted into the center of the insert. Again, unlike the present invention this design requires an additional part, i.e. an “insert”, with crevices and ligatures that can be difficult to sanitize effectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,975,691 to Hibbs discloses a projecting support panel for holding a combined toothbrush and tumbler holder. The holder having a series of independent holes intended to receive a toothbrush and/or tube of toothpaste vertically therein. The tumbler rests on the collar of the holder body. Unlike the present invention, this configuration requires a tumbler with a specific diameter that corresponds to the diameter of the holder body collar. This presents a problem should the tumbler become lost or damaged, thereby rendering the assembly ineffective for its intended use. In addition, the independent holes provide no means to air dry or drain any of the fluid collected therein making the holder body difficult to clean, thus, prone to microorganism growth.
While the foregoing described prior art device may have advanced the art in a variety of ways, there nevertheless remains a need for an elegant, yet simple, device that is able to support a plurality of different dentifrice related items therein that is portable, economical to manufacture, effortless to assemble and permits access into the interior of the container for easier cleaning.